My Valentine
by Clara Barton
Summary: Duo's usual plans unexpectedly become a Valentine's Day date. Gift for The Laughing Star as part of the gwxc2 on Tumblr.


A/N:For the Valentine's Day Exchange:

For TheLaughingStar who requested a funny 2x5 with Duo trying to introduce Valentine's Day to Wufei and them trying to figure out what to give each other.

Images of their gifts are on my tumblr blog claraxbarton with this fic link.

A/N #2: I cannot say enough how much reviews mean to me. They keep my spirits up and my enthusiasm for writing high. If you enjoy, please take a moment to let me know.

Warnings: language, fluff

Pairings: 2x5, 1x3, 4xR

 _My Valentine_

"You're doing that weird thing again - you know, with your mouth and your eyes?"

Trowa paused in between sit-ups and looked over at Duo where he was stretching out what felt like an embarrassingly pulled muscle.

"What are you talking about?" Trowa asked.

Duo gestured.

"You - you're mouth is like… it's weird, it's all curved upwards and your eyes are all sparkly. I think you might have a fever or something."

Trowa rolled his eyes and went back to his sit-ups without another word.

Duo had to smirk at that even as he massaged his calf muscle. He had just finished running his daily five miles on the indoor track when he noticed Trowa starting his usual morning workout and had decided to jog over and razz him. And of course he had pulled a muscle. Jogging. Jogging over to cause trouble.

Still…

Duo looked over and saw that Trowa was still smirking, a faint expression that most people would have missed but Duo, who had known Trowa for seven years and spent countless hours working undercover with him knew to be a full fledged expression of joy.

"Okay seriously." Duo managed to remain quiet for all of two minutes. "Why the hell are you so happy?"

"I thought I was feverish?" Trowa retorted as he finished his last sit up and rose to his feet. He walked over to Duo and offered him a hand up.

Duo glared at the hand and Trowa rolled his eyes before kneeling down beside him.

"Give me your leg."

"I don't -"

Trowa pushed Duo's hands away and started to massage the muscle himself. Duo winced and then groaned.

"Fuck. Ouch. Okay - yeah that - that hurts like hell."

"Want me to stop?" Trowa asked, sounding amused.

"Nope. Keep going. It's gonna stop - yep. Already hurting less."

"So… about this smiling thing you're doing…" Duo prompted again.

"Maybe it's a facial tic I should have looked at."

"Tro, come on - just tell me already! You're killing me here!"

Trowa's smirk turned a little devilish and he dug his fingers into the sensitive skin behind Duo's knee.

Duo yelped and jerked free.

He glared at Trowa as the other man chuckled and stood up.

This time when Trowa offered him a hand, Duo accepted. He tried to use his leverage to pull Trowa down but the other man rocked back on his heels and simply pulled Duo up to his feet.

"I hate you," Duo muttered as Trowa started to walk towards the locker room.

"No you don't," Trowa said without even looking over his shoulder.

Duo rolled his eyes and started after him.

"I could start to."

Trowa snorted.

"You'll start to hate me as soon as you start _liking_ to fill out mission reports."

Duo grimaced at the reminder. He had a stack of such reports on his desk that needed to be completed and filed before Une decided to reprimand him. Again.

"Maybe I enjoy filling out reports _too_ much," Duo said. "And so I horde them so I can binge on the sheer joy of mind dumbing details."

"I'm sure that's it."

Trowa was already showered and dressed by the time Duo managed to shower and get his hair half-way dry.

He glared at Trowa as the other man zipped up his gym bag while Duo worked on re-braiding his hair.

"Please, Tro...you're killing me with this. Did you get a new romance novel yesterday? Find a new documentary on lions?"

Trowa looped the strap of his gym bag over his shoulder and shook his head at Duo.

"It really is killing you to not know why I'm happy isn't it?"

"It's just that you've been so fucking cranky for the past month, ever since Heero got assigned escort duty for Relena's trip to the Moon and I get it… must suck to sleep alone and all of that but -" Duo's eyes widened as a disturbing possibility occurred to him. "Shit. You didn't have a one night stand last night did you?"

"What?" Trowa looked offended by the very idea.

"I'm just -you've got that look on your face like you've just had a night of crazy good sex and Heero's away so…"

"Or he got back seven hours ago and we spent six hours having crazy good sex before reporting for work today."

"Oh. Oh good. I mean - I'm glad you -"

"Didn't sleep with some random guy last night?"

"Yeah. Ummm…" Duo tried to think of how to change the subject and make this any less awkward. "I thought Relena was on the Moon until next week?"

Trowa shrugged one shoulder.

"Apparently she wanted to make it back early so she could surprise Quatre tomorrow night for Valentine's Day."

Duo arched an eyebrow. While Relena and Quatre were disgustingly in love with each other, he found it hard to believe that Relena would let her work as a diplomat take a backseat just for one old-fashioned Terran holiday.

"I thought it was strange too," Trowa agreed with Duo's unspoken assessment. "Heero said there was some big news she wanted to give him and then he uh…" Trowa trailed off and his cheeks flushed slightly.

Duo grinned.

"He uh… found his mouth too full of your dick to say anything else?"

Trowa's eyes narrowed and Duo knew that was a sure sign that Trowa was running out of patience.

Duo held up his hands in surrender.

"Anyway. I'm glad Heero's back and you're all… happy and not feverish."

Trowa shook his head and started to walk out of the locker room. At the door, however, he paused and turned back to Duo with what could only be described as an evil smirk on his face.

Duo found himself reaching for the service revolver he wasn't wearing.

"What?" He demanded.

Trowa shrugged and folded his arms across his chest, looking casual and _evil_.

"Nothing."

"Oh for fuck's sake Tro just -"

"I was wondering what kind of special plans you and Wufei had for Valentine's Day, is all."

"What?" Duo stared at him in horror. "What do you mean - Wufei and I aren't - I don't - we -"

Trowa's smirk, if possible, grew even wider and more evil.

"You two are doing your dinner thing tomorrow night aren't you?"

"Yeah but - that's just something we do on Saturday nights when we're both in town and it's not - we're not -I don't - I'm not -"

Trowa nodded, a look of sympathy on his face.

"You're not secretly in love with him?" Trowa supplied. "Not desperately hoping that one of these days he looks over at you and realizes he wants to screw your brains out just as much as you want him to? Not -"

"Okay, I get it. You think I have a thing for him. I'm reading you loud and clear."

Duo angrily snapped a hair tie around the end of his braid and started to get dressed, refusing to look back at Trowa or that damned smirk he probably still had on his face.

"Don't you?" Trowa asked so idly he might have been asking if it was meatball day in the caf.

"Tro -"

"I just seem to remember one night about a year ago when we were drunk and _you_ said -"

"I say a lot of things when I'm drunk," Duo interrupted Trowa, his face flushing as he recalled exactly what he had said, because how could he forget saying those words out loud.

 _I love Wufei Chang and even if he never acknowledges me as more than a minor annoyance in his life I want to be part of his life._

Pathetic. Even by Duo's standards. The words did not bear repeating.

"But you never tell a lie, hm?"

"You going somewhere with this or just trying to get me back for giving you crap?"

Trowa shrugged one shoulder again when Duo glared at him.

"This is the first time you two have had your little date night since -"

"We don't call it that because it is _not_ a date night -"

"since you two went on that stakeout, right?" Trowa continued over Duo.

"Yeah?"

"The stakeout where you thought you were made so you kissed him for a solid five minutes before the mark moved on?"

"Yeah," Duo repeated, having to clear his throat before he spoke.

Trowa nodded.

"Thought so."

And with that, he left.

Duo stared after him, mouth open.

 _What an evil bastard!_

Duo snapped his mouth closed so hard he bit his tongue, which only added fuel to his anger. He finished dressing, shoved his gym clothes into his bag and threw it over his right shoulder before slamming out of the locker room.

Trowa was an asshole. A meddling, irritating asshole and Duo was going to track him down and -

Halfway to his office, Duo ran into Wufei. Literally.

The files that Wufei had been carrying went flying and Wufei spared him a glare before kneeling down to start picking the papers up.

"Shit. I'm sorry." Duo dropped down beside him and tried to help.

He and Wufei reached for a page at the same time and their fingers tangled together.

Duo jerked his hand back, not because just touching Wufei felt like an electric shock, but because Wufei already had the paper. He felt himself blushing and it definitely wasn't because he was thinking about Wufei's long fingered hands or his -

"Uh, so, about tomorrow night…"

"I have to work until seven but I should be there by seven-thirty at the latest. I'm sorry I will be late."

"Oh, it's not - it's okay. I just… I mean do you still _want_ to come over?"

Wufei scowled.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?"

"No, no reason or anything I just didn't know if you had other plans or -"

"I thought we had planned _this_."

Wufei stood up and Duo found his face inches away from Wufei's crotch before he scrambled up to his feet as well.

"Yeah, but it's Valentine's Day and I didn't know - I mean if you have someone you want to spend it with or -"

Wufei frowned.

"Valentine's Day?"

"Yeah it's this old tradition - some western Terran thing - you know where you give the person you're in love with a sappy card or chocolates or flowers or jewelry or whatever."

Wufei frowned and he seemed to be considering something.

"Do _you_ have someone you would like to spend it with?" Wufei asked softly.

"Me? Nah. No way. I don't have anyone… I'm just - no. I want to do our thing. But I didn't know if _you_ … wanted to… spend it with someone."

"I have already made plans with you," Wufei said, his brow drawn together in a confused scowl.

Duo felt awkward and he rocked back on his heels.

"Yep. Well. I've made this weird so I think my work here is done."

Wufei smiled slightly, his eyes softening and his frown losing it's edge.

"Seven thirty tomorrow?" He asked.

Duo nodded.

"Yeah. It's a date - er, yeah. Seven thirty."

He fled before he could do more damage.

-o-

Trowa managed to avoid him for most of the day, but Duo, planning ahead, had parked himself on Trowa's motorcycle in the parking garage as soon as he finished filing the last damn mission report at five. He had been confident that Trowa would be working past five - or at least lingering while _Heero_ worked past five like he always did when he was at headquarters.

Sure enough, it was nearly six by the time Trowa strolled towards him.

The taller man stopped and shook his head when he saw Duo reclining on the seat of the bike.

With a wince, Duo straightened up. It had seemed like a good idea - stretching out and draping his legs of the handlebars - but it had been hard as hell to get into the position in the first place and damned uncomfortable once he was there.

"Need a ride?" Trowa asked.

"Hell no. Once on this death machine with you was more than enough. I'll pass. Forever."

Trowa smirked at that.

"I, ah… I talked to Wufei."

"Well that was bound to happen considering you work across the hall from each other."

"I regret ever teaching you sarcasm."

"As if I learned it from you," Trowa scoffed.

"I talked to him about tomorrow night," Duo clarified after a moment of silence between them. "About Valentine's Day."

"And?"

"And I said we didn't have to do the dinner thing in case he wanted to spend it with someone he - you know - whatever."

Trowa rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I know. Whatever. Which I'm assuming means someone he cares about."

"Yeah, he didn't know what the day meant or anything so I told him you were supposed to give shit to someone you loved."

Trowa arched an eyebrow.

"I didn't say _shit_ ," Duo defended himself. "I gave examples."

"And he said…?"

Duo sighed.

"He said he had already made plans with me."

Trowa smirked.

"What? What is that - are you thinking about sex with Heero again?"

"No."

"Because that's your happy smirk and you only wear that thing when you're thinking about sex with Heero or hot chocolate or that time we pants'd Zechs."

Trowa's smirk grew even broader at that.

"I was actually thinking that it's about time one of you got off your ass and admitted to caring about the other."

"What are you talking about?"

"You asked Wufei if he wanted to spend Valentine's Day with someone he loved and he said he had plans to spend it with you."

"Well yeah, because it's Saturday night and -"

"Duo. You aren't an idiot."

Duo glared at Trowa but… was he right?

Was Wufei trying to say that he loved Duo?

"I don't know, Tro."

"You better get him some shit," Trowa advised.

"What?" Duo asked in confusion.

"Get him whatever shit you're supposed to give someone you love. When he comes over tomorrow you can give it to him."

"But -but what if he's not saying that? What if he really just meant that he made plans with me already and he didn't want to go back on that because you know - honor and keeping promises and whatever?"

"Then I suggest you get some shit that you would just as soon keep for yourself as give to him."

"I hate you."

"So you keep saying. Now get your bony ass off my bike so I can go home and be naked in bed when Heero gets there."

Duo scrambled off the bike, managing to only slightly fall as he did so.

"I'm uh… I'm happy for you two, you know," Duo said as Trowa sat down.

Trowa arched an eyebrow at him.

"I just - I know I tease you two about it but I think it's great that you're together."

Trowa smirked softly.

"You're going to have to make that speech better for when you give it at our wedding."

"You two - when?" He couldn't believe that Heero hadn't said anything to him.

"No rush. We talked about it last night."

"Talked about it?"

"He dropped his duffle beside the bed and told me he wanted to be able to do that for the rest of his life."

Duo rolled his eyes.

"Jesus fucking Christ 'Ro. He said _that_? Where's the romance? Where's the -"

"Flair for the dramatic?" Trowa fished a chain out from under his shirt and held it out to Duo. There was a ring on it.

"Made of Gundanium. So it would be eternal, like his love for me."

"Oh my fucking God. Now I really do hate you. Both of you."

Trowa was back to smirking happily, though, and Duo found himself grinning back.

"You know I introduced you two," he said.

Trowa arched an eyebrow.

"I mean… on the battlefield and all. If you and I hadn't started to fight you never would have met Heero."

"And that's why he said you could be my best man at the wedding. He's taking Wufei."

"Really?"

"Of course, we could always just make it a double wedding," Trowa offered nonchalantly.

"Yeah, um, I'm still not convinced tomorrow night is going to be anything other than a complete disaster so I'd hold off on practicing _your_ best man speech."

"Duo."

He looked up at the serious tone to Trowa's voice.

"You have good instincts - you always have. It's the only way you've managed to stay alive considering all of the shit you've been through."

"Yeah?"

"So don't ignore your instincts now."

With that cryptic advice, Trowa put on his helmet and revved the motorcycle.

Duo stepped back and watched Trowa zoom away.

Follow his instincts.

-o-

"You know, Terrans used to just have arranged marriages."

"Are you suggesting we return to that custom?"

Duo shrugged.

"I dunno. Would certainly eliminate this whole awkward dating-not dating bullshit."

"You know what else eliminates that?"

"No?"

"Communication."

Duo rolled his eyes and stretched out.

He had commandeered the loveseat in Trowa's office while they talked through their next undercover mission.

Trowa, seated at his desk, leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on his desk.

"So what, I'm just supposed to say 'Hey, Wufei, I know we've been friends for years and I've never said anything but I love you and when we kissed on the stakeout I swear to God I saw stars and do you love me too?'"

"You could always just ease into it by asking him out on an actual date."

"Yeah but if I did that then he'd say no and I'd feel like an idiot."

"So instead you're just going to torture yourself all night."

"I mean… it's what I do every night already isn't it?"

Trowa sighed.

"Did you get him something?"

"You mean did I get him some shit?"

Trowa rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. Did you get him some shit?"

"Yeah it's… fuck, Tro, I'm going to look like such a lame idiot just standing there holding flowers."

"You got him flowers."

"A plant. An orchid. Yeah. Flowers. But it's not dead or anything. Because he likes to grow things. He's got that garden in his backyard and even here at work he's got that weird succulent or whatever that Quatre gave him for Christmas two years ago. So I thought he'd like something like that."

Trowa looked impressed.

"I'm sure he will love it."

"But what if he comes over and it's just… business as usual and here I am in the kitchen cooking up some romantic meal with a damned potted plant on the table and he just strolls in still in his Preventers uniform and wants this to just be his pre-arranged plans?"

"I think that's a risk you have to take," Trowa said. He tapped a finger on the open file on his desk. "And speaking of risks. I still think I should be the one going undercover and you should be the contact - not the other way around."

"Nope. You were the undercover one last time. It's my turn to get in good with a gang of murderers and slavers. You can't go having all the fun, Tro."

"But -"

The door to Trowa's office opened and Heero walked in.

"I just had the most bizarre conversation with Wufei about when he should give -" Heero stopped talking when he saw Duo.

"When to give…?" Duo prompted.

"Snow," Heero said immediately.

Duo frowned in confusion.

"You and Wufei talked about when to give… snow?"

"I said it was bizarre," Heero said and looked over at Trowa, making some kind of expression that surely meant something to Trowa but to Duo it only made Heero seem slightly crazy.

"Snow. Right." Trowa nodded as though he understood what the fuck Heero was talking about.

Or maybe he was just trying to placate the crazy. "Can't give it in the summer or it will melt," Trowa added.

"Exactly what I said," Heero agreed.

"Yeah, um, I'm gonna have to ask why Wufei is giving anyone _snow_?"

"You'd have to ask him. It wasn't my idea." Heero sounded defensive.

"Yeah, that's fair."

Duo looked at his watch. It was almost five. He should probably head out soon if he wanted to have dinner ready for Wufei.

He started to get up from the couch but Heero rushed over and blocked him.

"Don't ask him _now_ ," Heero said.

"Um… I got to be honest with you, Heero. I wasn't going to ask him ever because this conversation sounds crazy."

"Then where are you going?"

"Home? To make dinner? If that's okay with you?"

Heero rolled his eyes and stepped back.

Duo got to his feet and smirked.

"What?" Heero asked in a growl, clearly recognizing the mischief in Duo's smirk.

"Nothing. I was just thinking about how I'm going to be the best looking guy at your wedding. All the guests are going to look at me and ask each other 'why didn't Trowa marry _this_ sexy bastard?'"

Trowa snorted.

"Aside from the fact that we would kill each other if we had to live together for the rest of our lives, the one time you and I kissed I felt absolutely no attraction for you."

"And then you threw up on me," Duo added.

"Which was your fault for suggesting we get drunk for our fake twenty-first birthday in the first place."

"Hey. Our birthday isn't fake. It's just… not real." When they had joined the Preventers, both Trowa and Duo had realized they didn't know what date to put down for their birthdate and, at Duo's suggestion, they had decided to share August 1st as their birthday. When they had turned twenty-one they had travelled to a dive bar some of the older Preventers frequented and proceeded to get incredibly, disgustingly drunk.

"He's never thrown up on _me_ ," Heero said with a self-satisfied smirk.

"Listen 'Ro, not everything's a competition."

Heero and Trowa shared a look between them and Duo decided he didn't want or need to know what it was about.

"Anyway, I'm going to go home and get ready for my disaster of a night. You two have a good time celebrating with your illicit premarital sex."

"Illicit?" Heero asked.

Duo shrugged.

"I dunno. I'm sure Tro has a filthy mind and there's no telling what _you_ might dream up to celebrate Valentine's Day. What with your giving people Gundanium engagement rings and all."

Heero smirked again and Duo rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, cya." He waved and started to leave the office.

"Duo," Heero stopped him with a hand on his wrist.

Duo arched an eyebrow.

"It's not going to be a disaster. Just… "

"Don't tell me to follow my instincts or trust in my emotions or whatever, 'Ro. Because my emotions and my instincts are telling me this is a really bad idea."

"No they aren't. You're just scared and when you're scared you want to run away."

"Yeah, well, that's called a survival instinct."

"Survival and being in love don't necessarily go hand in hand," Heero pointed out.

"So you're saying I can have one but not the other?"

"I'm saying you have to risk one to have the other."

"'Ro -"

"He's going to love the flowers," Trowa interrupted Duo. "And you need to go or you're going to be late. Plus Heero and I are about to have illicit premarital office sex. So stop trying to find the self-destruct button and go."

Duo glared at Trowa but the other man met his gaze with an unflinching stare.

"Fine," Duo grumbled.

He picked up his jacket from the couch.

"Have fun," Heero said.

"Yeah. You two - just don't get caught or if you do just make sure I'm here to see Une's face when she reads the report."

-o-

Duo had agonized over what to cook for Wufei.

Usually they took turns cooking - always at Duo's apartment because his kitchen was larger and better equipped than the one in Wufei's slightly ramshackle cottage closer to the bay. Usually they picked out something new to try each time. Usually they kept each other company while they cooked, talking about work or books or movies.

But tonight Duo was on his own, hoping that Wufei wouldn't think he was copping out by preparing fondue for them instead of a pre-cooked meal.

He had overheard two intel officers talking in the lounge yesterday, debating where to take their girlfriends for Valentine's Day and one had suggested just staying at home and making fondue. Duo had taken the idea and run with it - going out and buying a fondue pot and researching the best cheese and chocolates to use, the best dipping foods; and then he had spent an hour in the exotic plant store debating between what to get Wufei before finally settling on the cymbidium royal red orchid.

So now, after laying out everything for the meal, after making sure the orchid was unobtrusively positioned on his desk and not on the kitchen table where he had debated placing it before deciding it was too obvious, Duo found himself shirtless, staring at his closet and wondering what the hell he should wear.

It would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic - hell, if Trowa or Heero were telling him this as a story that had happened to them he would be laughing his ass off. But it was happening to him. He was the idiot staring into his closet and wondering what shirt said that he was possibly considering this a date if Wufei was.

The trousers had been easy - the black pair that Trowa had picked out for him last year when he insisted Duo needed sexier clothes when they went out drinking if he was ever going to find a boyfriend. But the shirt…

All of the shirts Trowa had forced him to buy were way, way too obviously 'this is my sexy date night shirt, don't I look sexy?' for tonight.

Before he could make up his mind, the doorbell to his apartment rang.

"Fuck."

Duo felt himself freeze in fear. What should he - fuck, fuck, _fuck_.

He reached into the closet and grabbed the closest shirt.

It was his dress uniform shirt.

He immediately threw it onto the floor and felt full on panic set in.

Why was this so hard - it was just a shirt. Just a -

The doorbell rang again and Duo grabbed another shirt, pulled it off the hangar and started to put it on as he left his bedroom and headed for the front door.

It was only as he pulled the hem of the shirt down that he looked - and realized how utterly fucked he was.

Three years ago Relena had run for Foreign Minister and some joker - Duo had his money on Trowa while conversely he knew that Trowa was betting it was _him_ in the pool that was still going at Preventers HQ - had had t-shirts made up with her face her on them with the slogan _Elect the Queen of the World_.

To Duo's knowledge, absolutely no one had taken the shirts seriously or worn them, ever, except for him and Trowa on election day that year and Heero once at the gym when he claimed he had no more clean clothes.

And now.

Now on this might be a date night or the worst night of Duo's life since the war.

He debated changing out of it but the doorbell rang yet again and Duo drew in a deep breath, reminded himself that, honestly, he had looked worse plenty of times and if all Wufei did was arch an eyebrow when he saw him then they could move past this.

He opened the door.

Wufei was definitely not wearing his Preventers uniform, nor was he wearing a Relena t-shirt. Nope.

 _He_ was wearing 'you had no idea I was this sexy did you' clothes if Duo had ever seen them. He had on a deep violet dress shirt, the top three unbuttons undone and the sleeves rolled up far enough that Duo could see the dragon tattoo on Wufei's right forearm that he didn't like to talk about. And gray trousers that really, really shouldn't be worn in public because they fit well enough that all Duo wanted to do was take them off.

If Duo hadn't known better, he would have to assume that Trowa had taken Wufei clothes shopping. He had never seen the other man wear clothes like this - he tended to live in his Preventers uniforms or, when it was absolutely inappropriate to wear them, he favored traditional Chinese garments. Although, now that Duo looked at the shirt more closely he saw that the Mandarin collar on the shirt resembled Wufei's usual style. But the trousers…

Ou"Why are you wearing that shirt?"

Duo jerked his eyes away from the sliver of exposed skin below Wufei's clavicle and looked back at his face.

He was more than arching an eyebrow, he was scowling.

Duo tugged at the hem of the shirt.

"I… uh… laundry emergency."

Wufei looked skeptical.

"What? Don't tell me you don't support the eternal reign of Our Lady of Perpetual Queenness?"

Wufei rolled his eyes but one corner of his mouth tugged ever so slightly upwards.

Duo gestured him in and closed the door after him.

He couldn't help but notice that Wufei was empty-handed.

Right.

So… not a Valentine's Day date night.

Duo didn't know whether he felt relieved… or devastated.

Definitely devastated.

He forced himself not to think about.

After all, Wufei was here, they were still friends, this was still their date night.

Even if it wasn't a date.

-o-

The fondue was both tastier and more fun than Duo had anticipated it being. Wufei seemed to enjoy the novelty of it and both of them, colony brats and still new to the wonders of dairy products, enjoyed the cheese and chocolate.

After they had literally scraped all of the chocolate from the fondue pot, their plates and their skewers Wufei helped Duo clean up.

This was part of their tradition, and Duo was well aware how weird it was for him to like this part of their dinner nights the best, but he did. It felt so… domestic. Like nothing he had ever had in his life before.

They worked in silence, Duo scrubbing while Wufei dried, and if Duo couldn't quite kill his smile whenever their fingers brushed together as they passed off a plate well… he was only human.

After dinner Duo hesitated.

Usually they watched a movie after dinner. Both of them had discovered a passion for classic Terran movies and they liked to go back and forth when selecting the movie. Just as tonight had been Duo's turn to cook, it was Wufei's turn to select a movie.

"Um… did you still want to watch -"

"I found something different tonight -"

They had spoken at the same time and stopped talking at the same time as well.

Duo scratched the back of his head and smiled.

This was awkward. Awkward as hell and it usually wasn't.

He wondered how much of it was in his head, wondered if Wufei was picking up on any of his anxiety or disappointment.

"Yeah, that sounds good," Duo gestured towards the vid screen and the couch.

Wufei picked up the vid remote and Duo sat down at one end of the couch while the other man searched the vid database for the movie he had in mind.

"Say Anything?" Duo read the title. He had never heard of it.

Wufei nodded.

"Old USA film."

"Have you seen it?"

Wufei nodded.

"I watched it last night - I wanted to make sure it was the right one."

Duo arched an eyebrow at that.

Usually they just picked something, maybe read a few reviews beforehand, but Wufei seemed to have put a lot of thought into this selection.

"Okay well… let's do it."

Wufei started the film and sat down at the other end of the couch, tucking his feet under him as he always did.

Duo forced himself to look away from Wufei's profile and concentrate on the vid screen.

It was fairly obvious, fairly early into the movie, that it was a romance. Duo wondered at that - it wasn't as if they didn't watch romantic films, hell one of his favorite films they had ever watched was Splash, but they didn't select those too often and surely it wasn't a coincidence that Wufei had picked that _tonight_? That he had watched it to make sure it was _the right one_?

Halfway through the movie Duo forget to overthink the situation and started to actually enjoy it. He found himself laughing out loud when the male lead stood outside holding up a gigantic data device that looked like nothing Duo had ever seen before. He liked the song though. Liked the gesture, too.

He imagined himself standing in Wufei's front yard, holding up his palm-size data device and blasting the same song until Wufei came out and kissed him.

Then he realized he was being a complete idiot.

That wasn't going to happen. No matter how much Duo found himself identifying with Lloyd Dobbler, no matter how much he thought that Wufei was uncannily like Diane Court.

He had resigned himself to utter disappointment until the very end of the movie - when the sound of their shuttle preparing for take off reminded Duo of the pre-flight checks on the Gundams. Reminded Duo of just how easily he or Wufei could have died at any point in their lives, at just how crazy it was that they were here - together, alive, in a time when large scale war was a recent memory but peace the only feasible future.

"That was good," Duo said as the credits rolled.

Wufei looked over at him and smirked.

"It was, wasn't it."

Duo nodded.

"I liked the music a lot."

"I thought you would. You remind me of her a lot."

"What?"

"Not… not because she's a girl. But because you're so brilliant and motivated."

Duo had to stare.

"You… you think _I'm_ like Diane?"

Wufei frowned but nodded.

Duo had to laugh.

"Yeah, I think _you_ are like Diane and I'm basically Lloyd incarnate."

Wufei shook his head.

"No. Not at all. You are so focused on work, on making the Earthsphere better and safer. You have such clarity of purpose in your life."

"Wufei - we do the same job. I mean, I'm undercover and you're banned from undercover because Une had to pay off the president of a small country the last time you were out but we do the same job. We _both_ make the Earthsphere better and safer."

Wufei shook his head.

"You do it because you believe in it. I do it because I have to have some use, some… value."

They had had a conversation similar to this before, three years ago, when Duo found himself in the med bay after narrowly avoiding death thanks to Trowa dragging him to safety, and Wufei had visited him. Had threatened to kill him if he was ever so reckless with his life again, had asked Duo why he wasn't more careful, why he always took such high risks.

"Wufei -"

"But my purpose, my value - it doesn't have to be my work."

"No, it doesn't," Duo agreed. He had tried to talk Wufei into going to college, into teaching, into writing - into doing anything other than the Preventers work that seemed like such a waste of his intellect. "You could write or -"

"That's not what I'm saying."

Wufei turned to face Duo, pulling a small black velvet bag out of his pocket as he did.

He held it out to Duo.

Duo stared at it.

"This is for you," Wufei said, as if Duo needed the clarification.

Slowly, unbelievingly, Duo took the bag.

He upended it over his palm and found himself staring again.

It was a pendant necklace on a silver chain. The pendent was a heart - not the kind of simplified shape so popular on this holiday, but something that resembled the actual human organ. The heart was of some deep red gemstone, with flecks of darker mineral throughout.

"It's a fire opal," Wufei said. "I… the only jewelry I've ever seen you wear is a necklace. I'm not trying to replace that but I didn't know if you would wear something else in any case so -"

"It's perfect Wufei."

Duo found himself reaching for the cross that he only ever took off when going on undercover missions. His fingers hesitated as they tangled in the golden chain.

This was more than Wufei giving him a gift, more than a nod to this holiday. This meant more. For both of them. Possible romance aside - Wufei might not be trying to replace the cross that marked Duo's past but he was definitely suggesting it was time to look to the future with this gift.

Duo undid the cross and held the heart necklace out to Wufei.

Wufei arched an eyebrow.

"Help me put it on?" Duo asked and lifted his braid.

Wufei smiled.

No the tilt of his lips Duo was most used to interpreting as smile, not the half-smirk that he wore whenever he had proven himself superior at something, but a full fledged smile.

Duo turned around and he felt the brush of Wufei's fingers as he laid the necklace around Duo's neck and secured the clasp.

The solid weight of the pendant was low on Duo's sternum and it was heavier than the cross, heavy enough that Duo was aware of it and he found himself reaching up to caress it.

"Thank you," he said.

Wufei nodded.

Receiving gifts was still such a novelty to Duo that he had trouble figuring out the appropriate response. He wasn't the street rat that needed to hoard things anymore, wasn't the spacer who was forgotten more often than not, wasn't the terrorist who could pack all of his belongings into a single duffel.

"I love it," he had to add.

Wufei smiled again.

"It suits you."

Duo smirked.

"Yeah, well, doesn't everything?"

Wufei rolled his eyes.

"I, ah, I got you something too."

Duo suddenly felt like the gift he had gotten for Wufei was severely outclassed by what Wufei had chosen for him.

Jesus. Was Wufei going to see it as Duo giving him a pen?

But he had opened his mouth and now Wufei looked expectant.

Duo rose from the couch and went into the guest room that served as his office and retrieved the orchid.

He brought it out and stood in front of Wufei, holding it and finding himself blushing.

"It's a cymbidium royal red orchid," Duo explained. "I, ah, I didn't want to get you something dead and I didn't know if you'd want jewelry and, well, I found out that orchids are symbols of perfection and, um, love in Chinese culture so…"

He thrust the plant into Wufei's hands.

Wufei stared at the plant for a moment, the expression on his face soft.

"It's beautiful. I will treasure it," he said to Duo.

Duo found himself letting out a sigh of relief. He fingered the pendant.

"It's not as nice as this but I didn't know -"

"Duo. I love it."

Duo stopped fidgeting and met Wufei's dark gaze.

He found himself grinning.

"However, I would be remiss if I didn't point out that the orchid means more than just perfection and affection in Chinese culture."

"Shit. Please don't tell me it means death or friendship because I tried really hard to avoid those two things."

"No, quite the opposite. It is seen as a symbol of fertility."

"Oh. _Oh_."

Duo felt his face flush as he realized.

"So basically I just asked you if you want to have sex, didn't I?"

Wufei leaned back on the couch, he ran one long, elegant finger over one of the orchid blossoms.

"Did you?" he asked, his tone seemingly idle.

Duo felt his mouth go dry.

"I, uh…"

Wufei put the plant down and stood up so that only a few inches separated them.

"Duo. We have been friends for years. We've almost died together. You _know_ me better than almost anyone. I - I had hoped that this," he reached out to touch the necklace Duo wore, "could express what I have struggled to do for so long."

Duo covered Wufei's hand with his own.

"I think it does. I - I _hope_ it does," Duo said. "I'm just - I've spent so long convincing myself there would never be anything between us. It's kind of difficult to wrap my head around the idea that you care about me the way I care about you."

"Do I need to track down one of those ridiculously huge data devices and stand outside playing that song to convince you that I do care for you? That I love you?"

Duo smiled at the mental image of Wufei doing that.

"Only if you find a trench coat to wear as well."

Wufei rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to say something.

But Duo decided that they had probably both said enough for now and he leaned forward and kissed him.

Wufei barely hesitated before kissing Duo back, wrapping his arms around Duo's shoulders and pulling him even closer.

It was better than their kiss last month on the stakeout, when Wufei had sat there frozen, his mouth open, his eyes wide, while Duo tried his level best to just sit there, open mouth on Wufei's and tried like hell not to think about how surprisingly smooth Wufei's lips were, how hot and wet his mouth had been and how incredible the feel of Wufei's tongue brushing over his for just a second had been.

This - this was better. This was real. This was more than a second of Wufei's tongue brushing over his.

This was a caress that lasted long enough for Duo to need to pull away and suck in a deep breath because _holy hell_.

And then he noticed Wufei scowling.

Shit. Had Wufei not felt it - had that kiss not been life-altering for him the way it had been for Duo?

"Wufei?"

"Either that goes or I do," Wufei said, his eyes on Duo's chest.

Duo reached down for the necklace.

"But -"

"Not _that_ , _her_ ," he said and tugged on the hem of the Relena t-shirt. "If I had known that I would have to stare at her while kissing you for the first time I never would have had them made in the first place."

Duo stared at him in wide eyed wonder.

"It was _you_?"

Wufei compressed his lips into a thin line. His go to expression when he had done something - like finish off the coffee in the officer's lounge, break the punching bag in the gym, or steal Une's favorite pen from her desk - and he didn't want to confess to it.

"Chang Wufei. I think I love you more now than I ever thought possible."

Wufei rolled his eyes and shifted away.

"No, no. Look, it's gone."

Duo pulled the shirt off and tossed it onto the couch.

Wufei smirked as he looked over Duo's bare torso. The expression, the heat in Wufei's eyes made Duo's pulse quicken.

"A definite improvement," Wufei said and kissed him again.

Duo maneuvered them down to the couch, propping himself up on one elbow as he leaned over Wufei. He trailed his lips from Wufei's mouth to his jaw and to his ear, nipping on his earlobe.

Wufei made some kind of shuddery moan that Duo committed to memory as his new favorite sound in the world.

"There's something I have to know," he whispered into Wufei's ear.

"Hm?" Wufei arched against him and the feel of his body was distracting enough that Duo almost let it go. Almost.

"Did you keep one of the shirts for yourself?"

Wufei stopped arching upwards and laid back onto the couch and glared up at Duo.

Duo had to smirk at the petulant expression on Wufei's face.

"Yes," Wufei snapped. "I wear it when I garden."

Duo managed to keep a straight face for all of two seconds before the mental image overwhelmed him.

He fell on top of Wufei, laughing so hard he struggled to catch his breath.

"Oh God I love you," he gasped.

Wufei's glare softened and he rolled so that he was now above Duo.

He brushed Duo's bangs aside and kissed Duo until he wasn't laughing, wasn't smiling, was only panting and desperate under him.

"And I love you. My Valentine."


End file.
